A Diabolical Mind Destroyer - "Nekros Nemesis" Review (100%)
Most human depictions of darkness come off as rather masturbatory and adolescent.
A reason for much of this in my opinion comes from the fact that humans tend to be born superstitious and cultists, thus all too eager to rally around their 'sacred' yet all-too-destructible constructs like desperate livestock.
Any attempt at aesthetic depictions of the true abyss of blackness coming from such infants in wolves' clothing are very often conducted on behalf of some creed or dogma which the adherents require like a drug in order to function (i.e. pussified mallcore 'satanism').
Icons are mere slaves to popular - read, mainstream - conventions that are discarded as quickly as they are adopted by the unthinking masses.
Pure demonic iconoclasm though, now that's raw power. Power that cannot be selectively edited and controlled. It appears as unpredictably as the forking of lightning.
The former can be likened to purebred breeds of house cats, a mere superficial amelioration destined to remind of the weaknesses inherent in inbreeding. On the other hand the latter might be likened to the Tsavo-Man Eaters.
Phantom are much closer to the latter to be sure.
Nekros Nemesis is a raw psychological assault against your sanity.
A Diabolical Mind Destroyer
Is Nekros Nemesis blackened horror metal? Maybe, but it's also much more than that.
At its most structured moments their latest record is astonishingly frenzied bestial black death dripping with pure inhuman white noise.
Just as often, though, is the seething cacophony boiling just below the unstable structure's surface... a raw, claustrophobic atmosphere sounding like a billion mosquitoes trapped inside your skull, perforating your brain over and over again.
Consider for a moment all these other cookie cutter black metal bands - I'm talking specifically about the posers in shit bands like Nargaroth, Antekhrist or Satyricon - who cheerlead that particularly juvenile political tripe.
Behind the poorly-fashioned spikes and unimaginative war paint, they are repeatedly revealed as nothing more than laughable trailer-trash buffoons working by day as cashiers at Wal-Mart who let loose their mascara tears over some fat girlfriend spurring their tiny prick for that of an exchange student into another coattail surfing rip-off of a band desperately promoting themselves as being some powerful embodiment of blackness, evil and destruction.
In their sheltered minds they represent a new breed of elite, while in reality they are but another incidental off-shoot of the very mainstream infestation they claim to despise. Such paper-thin and inbred vision has unfortunately become commonplace in the black metal scene. No wonder their 'satanic Viking' battle-armor falls apart during rehearsals in their mothers' basements. No wonder their efforts at trying to exhale demonic forces seem as adolescent as they are contrived.
Nekros Nemesis is, as the name implies, the spiritual fusion of death and creation.
No masturbatory visions of 'Satan' or obsessively waxed and manicured closet emo-fag figures brandishing gaudy ceremonial swords that come straight from a Pirates of the Caribbeans themed Happy Meal.
This album is a raw, haunting masterpiece of blackness.
Only a demon can thrive in a habitat of endless and uncontrollable fire, and that's exactly the type of music produced by Phantom on this diabolical record.
Nekros Nemesis score: 100/100.
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